The 1960s British Music Invasion

The 60s, A Decade of Great Music

A musical movement of the mid-1960s, the British Invasion was composed of
British rock-and-roll and beatgroups whose popularity spread rapidly to the rest
of the English-speaking world, especially the United Stateswhich, from the
beginnings of rock-and-roll music in the early 1950s, had nearly a monopoly on the genre.

Though generally not credited with starting the "Invasion", Dusty
Springfieldwas one of the first British artist to have significant
success in the U.S., with her hit single "I Only Want to Be with You",
released in November 1963. She appeared on the Ed Sullivan Showin early 1964
singing the popular hit, and continued to have several U.S. hits through the rest of the decade. For a list of
songs by British artists which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100,click
here.

However, The Beatles'triumphant arrival in New Yorkon February 7,
1964, is widely credited with truly throwing open America's doors to a wealth of
British musical talent, and officially beginning what would come to be called—with historical condescension
by the willingly reconquered colony—the second British Invasion. Like their transatlantic counterparts in the
1950s, British youth heard their future in the frantic beats and suggestive lyrics of American rock and roll,
but initial attempts to replicate it failed. Lacking the indigenous basic ingredients of rock and roll,
rhythm and bluesand country music,
enthusiasts could bring only crippling British decorum and diffidence. The only sign of life was in the
skifflecraze of the 1950s, spearheaded by Scottish-born Lonnie Donegan. Skiffle groups (like The
Quarrymen, first forerunner of the Beatles) were mainly
drummerless, acousticguitarandbanjoensembles, similar to
jugbands, who most often sang traditional American folk songs, frequently with more spirit than instrumental polish, although early British skiffle was played
by highly skilled Tradd jazzmusicians.

By 1962, encouraged by the anyone-can-play populism of skiffle and
self-schooled in the music of Chuck Berry, Elvis
Presley, Little Richard, Eddie
Cochran, Buddy Holly, James
Brown, and Muddy Waters, some British teens developed a real feel for the rock-and-roll and American
blues idioms. Blending that with such local traditions as music hall, pop, and
Celticfolk, they formulated original music they could claim, play, and
sing with conviction. Young groups with electric guitars began performing and writing up-tempo melodic pop,
fiery rock and roll, and Chicago-style electric blues. The rebellious tone and image of American rock and
roll and blues musicians also deeply resonated with British youth in the late 1950s, influencing all the
British Invasion artists.

Liverpool became the first hotbed of the so-called "beat boom." As
Britain's major Atlantic seaport, Liverpool merchant seamen often sailed to the U.S. and returned with the latest
American rock-and-roll hits, often before they were made widely available in Britain. With The Beatles, other
exuberant male quartets such asThe
Searchers,The Fourmost,
andGerry and the Pacemakers, plus the quintetBilly J. Kramer and
the Dakotaslaunched Mersybeat, so
named for the estuaryof the River Merseythat runs alongside Liverpool. The Beatles first reached the British record charts in late 1962
(shortly afterThe Tornados'
"Telstar", an instrumental smash that sent word of
what was in store by becoming the first British record by a group to top the American singles chart); the
rest joined the hit parade in 1963. Not all acts prominent in Britain by the early 1960s necessarily managed
to develop a profile in the U.S. Cliff Richard, who remains popular in Britain
and active today, has only rarely had chart successes in America.

Rock swept Britain. By 1964,Greater
Londoncould claimthe Rolling
Stones,the
Yardbirds,the Who,the Kinks,the Pretty Things,Dusty Springfield,the Dave Clark Five,Peter and Gordon,Chad and Jeremy,John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers,
andManfred Mann.Manchesterhadthe
Hollies,Wayne Fontana and the
Mindbenders,Freddie and the
Dreamers,Davy JonesofThe Monkees,
andHerman's Hermits;Newcastlewas home tothe Animals; andBirminghamhadthe Spencer Davis
Group(featuringSteve
Winwood) andthe Moody
Blues. Bands sprang up
fromBelfast(Them, with
frontmanVan Morrison)
toSt Albans(the Zombies), with more inventive artists
arriving to keep the syles moving forward, includingthe Small
Faces,the
Move,the Creation,the Troggs,Donovan,
andJohn's Children.
While the beat boom provided Britons relief from the postimperial humiliation of hand-me-down rock, the
Beatles and their ilk brought the United States more than credible simulations. They
arrived as foreign ambassadors, with distinctive accents (in conversation only; American and British singers
sounded generally similar), slang, fashions, and personalities. The Beatles' first
film,A Hard Day's Night(1964),
further painted England as the center of the (rock) universe. American media took the bait and
madeCarnaby Street, London's trendy fashion
center in the mid-1960s, a household name.

From 1964 to 1966 the United Kingdom sent a stream of hits across the
Atlantic. Behind the conquering Beatles, Peter and Gordon ("A World Without Love"), the
Animals ("House of the Rising Sun"), Manfred Mann ("Do Wah Diddy
Diddy"), Petula Clark ("Downtown"), Freddie and the
Dreamers ("I'm Telling You Now"), Wayne Fontana and the
Mindbenders ("Game of Love"), Herman's
Hermits ("Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely
Daughter"), the Rolling
Stones ("I Can't Get No Satisfaction" and others), the Troggs ("Wild
Thing"), and Donovan's ("Sunshine Superman") all toppedBillboard's singles chart.